Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Watch out, boy, she’ll chew you up

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

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#CBR11 Bingo: Pajiba (reviewed by Kayleigh here) (Would also work for “Award winner”, “Own voices”, “Listicle”, “Cannonballer Says”, and possibly, “Far and Away”) Official book description: Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede’s practicality is the sisters’ saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps […]

Dear Sweet Pea, Julie Murphy’s MG debut

Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy

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CBR11Bingo – Own Voices! Holy poop, this is my 52nd review! I’ve officially cannonballed! Not that I’ll stop playing now, though. I am a huge fan of Julie Murphy’s YA books, so when I saw the ARC for her middle grade debut was available at Book Expo, I knew I’d be snapping it up both for my pleasure reading and for my work on the RI Middle School Book Award Committee! While I’d usually save my off-committee summertime for “anything but children’s books”, I decided […]

A very sweet YA romance with queer characters

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

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#CBR11 Bingo: Rainbow Flag (author is a lesbian, as is the main character) This book would also fit nicely into the “Youths!” and “Own voices” squares on the bingo card. Official book description: Leila has made it most of the way through high school without having a crush on anyone, which comes as something of a relief. Her Persian heritage makes her different enough; if word got out that Leila liked girls, life would be twice as hard. And what would her parents think? It’s bad […]

“You can have anything once you admit you deserve it”

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

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#CBR11 Bingo: Own Voices (the book is about a trans girl, written by a trans woman) (Can also easily fit into the categories of Youths!, Award Winner and/or Rainbow Flag) Official book description: Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone. But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into […]

“Nothing was worse than someone wanting you to talk when the words you needed to say hadn’t even been invented yet.”

Far From the Tree by Benway, Robin

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cbr11bingo – Award Winner! Grace’s steady life is shattered during her high school junior year when she becomes pregnant. Her previously reliable boyfriend dumps her and removes himself from any rights to the child, and her parents are on eggshells around her.  She decides to give the baby up for adoption, which in some ways makes sense: she herself was adopted by her parents, and maybe her baby, who she nicknames Peach (the size the baby was when she realized she was pregnant), will be […]

I think the marketing people should find other books to compare this book to

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

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3.5 stars #CBR11 Bingo: Youths! From Goodreads: Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.  When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when […]



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